Total will become the first global oil major to bet on the UK’s home-grown shale revolution with a $47 million investment. Banned in a lot of Europe, hydrocarbon drilling could reduce Britain’s energy concerns.

The French company is upgrading its $2 billion-a-year investment
portfolio in Britain, Europe’s largest gas consumer. Total
predicts it will be the country’s largest oil and gas producer by
2015.

The French energy company is acquiring a 40 per cent stake in two
exploration licenses in eastern England and will become a major
shareholder in areas held by Dart Energy Ltd, the Paris-based
group said Tuesday in a
statement. The search for hydrocarbons will be operated by
Igas Energy Plc, which has a 14.5 percent stake in the permits.

Spanning 250 sq. km., the new zones are located in Lincolnshire,
England, which is believed to have rich natural gas reserves.

“This opportunity is an important milestone for Total E&P
UK and opens a new chapter for the subsidiary in a promising
onshore play,” Patrice de Vivies, Senior Vice President for
Total Northern Europe, said in a statement Monday.

Total has had a presence in the UK since 1962, and in 2013,
produced 105,000 barrels of oil per day, on average. More than 90
percent of the company’s production is sourced from fields in the
Alwyn, and Elgin/Franklin zones in the North Sea.

This adds to Total’s already heavy involvement in shale gas
projects in the United States, Argentina, Australia, China,
Poland, and Denmark.

Combined with other renewable and nuclear projects, Britain hopes
developing its shale energy sector will help it become less
import-dependent and hedge against blackout risks.

A June study from the British Geological Survey estimated that
1.3 quadrillion cubic feet of natural gas lie trapped in shale
rock beneath northern England, which is far more than current
proven UK conventional gas reserves, and would be enough to meet
demand for 50 years.

“All out for shale”

On Monday British Prime Minister David Cameron announced local
communities who participate in shale development will receive
millions of pounds in tax breaks. The PM said the UK was going
“all out for shale”.

The government has played a pivotal role in making shale gas
exploration in Britain, the only country in Europe other than
Poland, a reality. Record-high household energy prices make
Cameron’s Conservative party politically vulnerable at the next
election.

According to industry regulator Ofgem, energy prices have soared
24 percent over the last 4 years. The average fuel bill covering
both gas and electricity- is $2,125 (£1,315) per household.

In its quest to emulate America’s shale boom success, the
government has heavily endorsed a home-grown British fracking
revolution, helping lift drilling bans and promising
local communities big payouts.

Environment protests

Surges of environmental protests have stalled exploration efforts
across England.

The most recent protests were targeted against IGas, when
demonstrators blocked access to a shale gas drilling site outside
Manchester with a 1.5 ton wind turbine blade tied up with
Christmas bow. A local activist group says the act
is “symbolic” and the UK should be pursuing more
environmentally-friendly energy sources.

Extraction by fracking involves pumping millions of gallons of
water and chemicals into the ground, which creates excess hydro
waste, which over time local residents worry will result in
contamination of the water table.

US-based Cuadrilla Resources' plan to exploit shale gas reserves
in the northern county of Lancashire were halted by protests by
anti-fracking groups last summer. In 2011, Cuadrilla faced
another setback after anti-fracking caused two minor earthquakes
in the North of Great Britain.

US - inspired

Cameron expects the UK’s shale gas potential to be about
three-quarters of the US, which has an estimated 665 trillion
cubic meters.

The shale industry boom in the
US may add as much as $690 billion to GDP and create 1.7 million
jobs by 2020, according to a study by McKinsey and Co. The oil
boom has boosted domestic employment, company profits, and GDP in
the US.

The US shale gas boom, and the energy independence it has
brought, is something Cameron hopes to replicate.
He said the US has embraced fracking because they see the direct
financial benefit in energy prices.

The use of fracking has also come
under fire in the US and has been connected to the
contamination of water supplies and increased seismic activity.

The USA is roughly 40 times the size of the UK, and much of the
‘shale-revolution’ isn’t in the backyards of communities -
fracking is in remote wells in North Dakota, Kansas, and
Oklahoma.